Scope and Content Note
The M & S Collection of American Radical Extremist Literature of the 20th Century chronicles the activities of a variety of persons and groups who attempted to offer an alternative vision of society. People have pursued the "good community" for centuries. While some reformers tried to establish separatist utopian communities, others worked to mold the civic community to fit their own vision.
The M & S Collection of American Radical Extremist Literature of the 20th Century's diversity is a reflection of the medley of American radical views. The Collection documents the activities of extremist groups and their visions of the good community from 1934 to 1981, with the majority of the material centering on the years 1950 to 1981. The Collection embraces a vast number of subjects in a wide range of formats and genres, including broadsides, pamphlets, books, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, subscription and membership cards, order blanks, petitions, catalogs, advertisements, article reprints, and bumper stickers. The Collection is strongest in printed ephemera: fund-raising letters, rally flyers, book order-forms, stickers, membership flyers, and propaganda pieces produced by many sorts of radical Americans. These materials chronicle the activities of radical groups, rallying, fund raising, propagandizing, theorizing, and petitioning.
The collection's greatest strength is in materials relating to the American Right during the 20th century. They especially document the religious Right's involvement with nationalism, anticommunism, antihumanism, anti-Semitism, and the movement for media decency. It also partly describes various religious groups, such as the Unification Church, Church of Scientology, and the Church of God International.
The Collection also includes a panoply of materials from the Left groups of the 1960s, and 1970s, including the 1970s movements against nuclear weapons and nuclear power. It addresses the movement against the Vietnam War only in part, but covers the 1970s and early 1980s “peace" movements on behalf of various Third World nations in more detail. It also partly chronicles the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and the movements for women's rights and gay rights.
This release includes the first four series; Magazines, Newspapers, Newsletters and Pamphlets. Future releases will be made available with the full seven series including Broadsides, Ephemera and Books.